


Is This Our Hope or Our Despair?

by 0urhappygirl500



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, deanganronpa 54, i love dramatic irony
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-01
Updated: 2019-01-01
Packaged: 2019-10-01 19:34:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,950
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17250104
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/0urhappygirl500/pseuds/0urhappygirl500
Summary: “I’ll sacrifice myself” Maki spoke out into the trial room with determination,Saihara looked as though he desperately wanted to say something but whatever it was the words never made it out of him.And so they voted.And that was the end of the 53rd killing game.-----Fiction can't change Reality and the Killing Game begins for the 54th time





	Is This Our Hope or Our Despair?

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [This is our Hope](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11164494) by [grayimperia](https://archiveofourown.org/users/grayimperia/pseuds/grayimperia). 



Everything… Everything was a lie: their memories, talents, personalities… even her feelings for Momota they weren’t real.

 

Everything was just for the sick enjoyment of some audience somewhere out there. Maki could almost laugh at the unfairness of it all, just when she had found people who accepted her, just when she had found people who treated her like she was human, who made her feel for the first time in years like she wasn’t a weapon who could only kill.

 

It all turned out to be fake.

 

Maybe this was her punishment Maki wondered, for killing Ouma. Momota might have been the actual blackened of the case, might have been the one to crush the liar with the hydraulic press but Maki was the one that killed him. She had killed them both.

 

Despite everything she had been through, despite everyone who believed in her Maki had fallen back into her role as an assassin so easily…

 

She really was nothing more than a tool used to kill things wasn’t she? She didn’t know why she had ever believed she could be anything else.

 

It felt like she was sinking into the depths of a cold black sea… was this, was this what despair felt like? She didn’t know, she didn’t care her gazed swept over Yumeno who kept pulling down her witches hat as if that would let her disappear from this situation and Saihara who had tears pouring down his face.

 

Maki briefly wondered if she should do something, say something. Those two had always needed looking after. When Ouma had shown them the ‘outside world’ and taken Momota neither of them could do anything, too burdened by the weight of the ‘truth’. They had needed her to pull them out of it back then so shouldn’t she say something now?

 

But then again all she had done before was gotten Momota and Ouma killed, all she had done before was play right into Shirogane’s hands so what was the point of doing anything?

 

Her body felt heavy……..

 

Then like a knife cutting through the darkness Kiibo spoke up saying there was still Hope left for them, that they still had a chance he was arguing against Shirogane and actually *Winning* Maki could see the girl floundering under Kiibo’s arguments trying to stop the robot by saying they couldn’t stop the game without one more sacrifice and that was when Maki saw her chance, she knew what she had to do.

 

She was made to kill after all and she swore that she would kill the mastermind.

 

“I’ll sacrifice myself” Maki spoke out into the trial room with determination, she would do it, she would kill Shirogane. Maki glared at the mastermind barely even acknowledging Shuichi’s shocked voice “If Kiibo and I sacrifice ourselves… then Saihara-kun and Yumeno-san will live right?” she asked even though they all already knew the answer.

 

“Then they can… survive this absurd killing game…”

 

This was fine, she was fine with this. They deserved to live more than she did. She had too many sins, too many mistakes. The only good she could do now was take Shirogane down with her.

 

Saihara muttered her name unbelievingly and she paused to send a sad glance in his direction, Momota’s sidekick and one of her first friends in a long time… Saihara definitely deserved to live through this more than her; she was the reason Momota wasn’t standing here with them all after all.

 

“After listening to Kiibo, I’ve decided… I don’t want this killing game to end in despair. That would just piss me off.” She tried to explain hoping Saihara would understand her decision. It was the correct choice, no it was the only choice after all Momota didn’t do all that he did for them just to have them loose now.

 

As if reading her thoughts Shirogane spoke up “even if you only feel that way because I wrote you like that? Just like with Momota-kun…” Shirogane asked condescendingly.

 

When he had been alive Maki had truly hated Ouma but now knowing what she did she wished she hadn’t, she wished that all the time she wasted on hating the Supreme Leader had been used to not let Shirogane trick them instead. She wished it were Shirogane’s throat that she put her hands around, that it was Shirogane that she had shot with that arrow.

 

“Even then… I’ll choose that ending if it means I can kill you.” Maki said defiantly as she tried to push down her feelings and let her hatred and blood lust and killing intent run wild “even if I have to sacrifice my life, I will kill you!”

 

Saihara looked as though he desperately wanted to say something but whatever it was the words never made it out of him.

 

And so they voted.

 

And that was the end of the 53rd killing game.

 

* * *

 

 

A girl with messy uneven twin tails in a simple school uniform stared up at the camera with an almost unfeeling expression and began to speak.

 

“Number 413… my name if @€$%*&

 

I should probably make one thing clear, I’ve never really liked Danganronpa all that much… weird considering I’m auditioning for it right now I know. I just don’t think anything should run for over 53 seasons… I guess it’s 54 now though…

 

The reason I’m auditioning is also the reason I know you’ll pick me. I want to be in Danganronpa for one reason and one reason only.

 

I want to kill Harukawa Maki.

 

You probably already knew this since contestants of previous seasons get background checks and everything but Ouma Kokichi… or who he was before the 53rd season... he was important to me and it’s because of her that I’ll never see him again. She got to have fun and make friends when he was alone and suffering even though he was doing more for everyone than she ever did!

 

So I want to kill her, I want to make sure that she doesn’t live through this season. I want revenge against the person that took my most important person away from me.

 

That should be simple to understand right?

 

I don’t really care what talent you give me or what else you do with me as long as I can achieve that… But if I did have one request, make me a member of DICE. Because even if it’s not the Kokichi I knew, I still want to have memories of *a* Kokichi.

 

And wouldn’t that get a lot of good ratings, a subordinate getting revenge on the assassin that killed her beloved leader?

 

* * *

 

 

 

Harukawa Maki hadn’t expected to survive but after Shirogane’s punishment was over, after Shirogane had been bounced around on piano keys, dropped from a spiked vine, boiled in a caldron, stung by swarms of bugs, sent to space, and then finally crushed. Maki had honestly expected for her or Kiibo to be next only slightly grateful that she got to witness Shirogane’s death at the very least.

 

When suddenly strangers rushed into the room and she and Kiibo were separated from Saihara and Yumeno and they learned what being a sacrifice really meant.

 

And that was how she found herself where she was now, waking up at a desk in a uniform she had been told was once hers. Taking stock of her surroundings, an empty classroom Maki collected herself and stood up in determination.

 

No matter what they did to her, she’d make sure she and Kiibo lived and got out of these ridiculous killing games. She *would* see Saihara and Yumeno again, she’d make sure of it!

 

The sounds of shuffling from one of the closed lockers pulled her out of her thoughts just in time to see a girl with uneven twin tails stumble out.

 

The girl seemed shocked as she fell out of the locker eyes darting around trying to make sense of where she was before her eyes finally fell on Maki. The other girl seemed to stare at Maki in silence for a long time the expression on her face unreadable.

 

If Maki and Kiibo were going to live through this that meant that the others would have to die so there was no point for Maki to even bother talking with this girl but the way she was glaring at her was irritating her and just as Maki was about to demand why this girl was looking at her a strange robotic black and white cat appeared, motioning for them to follow.

 

The girl seemed to glace in Maki’s direction as if observing what she was going to do. “It wants us to follow it, think we should?” Maki couldn’t help but ask.

 

She never got a proper answer though as the girl was already walking out the door to follow what was probably this seasons mascot.

 

Maki quickly went after the girl and the two fell into line as they walked in silence through the hallways.

 

The only sound was their echoing footsteps as they made their way through the halls that felt familiar to the ones she had experienced yet different, finally after moments of silence the other girl spoke to Maki for the first time.

 

“I knew him you know?” she said so suddenly that Maki almost stumbled in surprise though the other girl didn’t miss a beat merely acknowledging the surprise and confusion that must have passed through Maki’s face with a glance before staring straight ahead again.

 

“Ouma Kokichi, I knew him before the game. He was my friend… He was my family…” at the mention of the liar Maki found herself stopping in shock and as if to match her, the girl also stopped her trembling hands clenched into fists.

 

She finally turned to look Maki straight in the eye; properly, directly acknowledging her for the first time since she had stumbled out of that locker.

 

“You're not making it out of this game alive” was the only promise the girl made to her before she turned away from the false assassin and pushed open the large red doors that opened up into a gymnasium where 12 other students were waiting all in various states of confusion, Maki managed to spot Kiibo though she almost didn’t recognize him as he looked more human than he ever had before.

 

Instinctively she moved closer to the one person she knew when two more people burst through the doors, making their group 16.

 

The strange cat appeared again talking over everyone’s confusion as Maki was placed in familiar clothing, she smiled to herself when she saw Kiibo looking more like himself only to pause when she caught a glimpse of the girl that had woken up in the same room as her.

 

She was now wearing a peach white dress almost hidden by her poncho and knee length boots. It was a nice enough outfit but that was not what caused her to take pause though, it was the familiar chequered scarf wrapped around the girls’ neck.

 

Kiibo noticing she was staring and followed Maki’s gaze towards the girl, she barely had time to acknowledge his shock when they were drowned in a blinding light.

 

* * *

 

 

Harukawa Maki didn’t know what to make of the situation before her, she had woken up in what she thought was an empty classroom only for a girl to stumble out of a locker in front of her.

 

The next thing she knew a monochrome cat started explaining how every other person here was a Super High School Level, Maki couldn’t tell if it was true or not though because no matter how hard she tried to think of it she couldn’t figure out what exactly her talent was supposed to be.

 

The memory of children’s laughter was at the forefront of her mind but at the same time it didn’t feel right.

 

“So I guess we should introduce ourselves… probably,” the other girl noted dragging Maki’s attention away from her thoughts as the girl looked at her curiously tilting her head slightly when Maki didn’t answer her and Maki found herself fighting to stop herself from threatening the other girl as she examined her.

 

“Just your name and talent would be okay… I’m Okumura Hoshiko The Super High School Level Delinquent by the way if you wanted to know,”

 

Maki paused before signing and saying “Harukawa Maki…” she introduced herself and irritatedly added “that’s it when Okumura still looked at her expectantly for her talent.

 

Okumura seemed to examine her thoughtfully before shrugging to herself and smiling seemingly accepting just Maki’s name as her full introduction.

 

“Hey Harukawa-san, that Monocat thing said that there were other Super High School Levels here right? Do you think there’ll be people we know here?” Okumura asked excitement flashing through her eyes.

 

“I doubt it.” Maki said dismissively “Other Super High School Levels are pretty rare and spread out, you’re the first one I’ve met,” as Maki finished her response she couldn’t help but shake the feeling of wrongness at that statement as if some part of her was telling her she had met of Super High School Level students.

 

Both this feeling and her missing talent was unnerving her and not wanting Okumura to notice Maki moved the conversation along “why do you know other Super High School Levels?” she almost joked because the chance of that was slim to none which is why Maki couldn’t hide her slightly shocked expression when Okumura nodded.

 

“Yeah, my boss is a Super High School Level” Okumura informed her simply seeming to fail to realize just how unusual that situation was presenting it as if she was merely giving an average fact about her life.

 

“Your…boss?” Maki asked incredulously.

 

It was then that Okumura seemed to notice the oddity of her statement though she only nodded at Maki’s question.

 

“Well I’m The Super High School Level Delinquent remember, it’s not so unusual for me to be in a gang… though we’re more an organization than a gang. Our leader is the Super High School Level Leader and he’s amazing!” Okumura seemed excited talking about her leader the mention of him making her the happiest she had been in the entire conversation.

 

However there was something that was almost making Maki’s head hurt and emotions she couldn’t identify swirl through her.

 

“Wow… he must really be something if you respect him this much,” Harukawa noted trying to power through whatever was happening inside her head hoping that if she ignored them these feelings she didn’t understand would go away.

 

Okumura nodded looking pleased at the mere mention of her leader “yeah he’s pretty much the smartest person ever which is why I’m hoping he’s here, if any one can figure out what the hell’s going on it’s him,” Okumura told her in a matter of fact tone of voice before looking thoughtful.

 

“Hey do you want to help me see if he’s here?” Okumura asked.

 

“What?” the question shouldn’t have surprised Maki as much as it did but she honestly expected Okumura to just leave her alone after an initial introduction, especially if she was hoping to find her ‘boss’ here.

 

“Well I don’t know for sure if my boss is here and even if he was I think it’s probably best to stick with as many people as possible until we figure out what’s going on… safety in numbers and all that right?” Okumura told her while Maki just rolled her eyes and walked out of the classroom.

 

It wasn’t long before she heard Okumura follow her and the two quickly fell into line as they walked through the hallways together introducing themselves to whoever they ran into.

 

Maki wondered why she wasn’t telling Okumura to leave her alone; it was something she would normally do after all but for some reason Maki didn’t want to be alone even though she couldn’t explain the feeling.

 

Well Okumura at least had stopped the others from questioning her about her talent so she was useful in that regard Maki noted trying to reason with herself.

 

The two walked in silence and Maki found herself taking comfort in that, maybe she hadn’t told Okumura to go away because the other girl wasn’t bothering her with small talk?

 

Maki liked the quiet but there was part of her that was telling her she should probably at least try and talk to Okumura if she was sticking around.

 

“We haven’t found your boss yet,” Maki said breaking the easy silence that had fallen between the two girls. If Okumura thought it was odd though she didn’t mention it.

 

“Yeah I guess the odds of him being here are pretty slim…” Okumura noted ruefully, it was probably because she had been hoping that her leader could figure out what was going on the situation kept on getting more ridiculous after all since everyone they’d met were all in the same circumstances.

 

They all woke up in a classroom with no idea how they got there.

 

For some reason though Maki felt like she should at least try to lift Okumura’s spirits so she kept on talking “well there’s nothing to say that he’s not here yet,” Maki stated walking faster and playing with her hair trying to cover up her embarrassment wondering what came over her to try and encourage someone she’d just met.

 

Not breaking her stride she kept on walking, “your leader sounds like an interesting guy for you to admire him this much,” she noted remembering the spark in Okumura’s eyes when she talked about her ‘boss’.

 

“I hope I get to meet him,”

**Author's Note:**

> I'm surprised that their aren't more fics where Shuichi couldn't stop danganronpa and Maki ended up being the next SHSL Survivor because it's a fun concept. I also liked the idea of someone joining danganronpa primarily because someone close to them died in a previous season so two birds one stone and I got to write more for my OC.
> 
> Knowing Team Danganronpa Hoshiko's probably going to be Maki's only friend in the game and then Hoshiko has a minor breakdown after finding out Maki's the reason Kokichi died but she still saves Maki's life and is probably the only reason Maki lives through the 54th season because Team Danganronpa always pulls stuff like that.
> 
> Oh damn I just spoiled the entire 54th season didn't I?
> 
> Also Happy New Years guys! I hope I can write more in 2019.


End file.
